15/07/2019
There were 71 houses and apartments sold in Sligo in May, to a total value of €8.9m, but there has been a call for the government to extend the Help to Buy Scheme to help many who cannot afford to buy.
Figures released last week by the Central Statistics Office on residential property sales also show that the average price paid was €125,881. May’s sales bring the total number of transactions in the county for the year to date to 376, with a total value of sales of €48.9m. The number of sales was up on the same month last year when there were 62, with a total value of €7.2m.
The highest price paid in May this year was €500,000 for a house at Bayview, Rosses Point. Another house in Rosses Point sold for €295,000, while the exact same price was paid for a house at Whitestand, Alyesbury Avenue in Sligo town.
The lowest price was €45,000 for an apartment at Springvale, Tubbercurry, while a house at Creevykeel, Cliffoney, went for €60,250 and another at Jinks Avenue in Sligo for €70,000. A total of 21 purchases were first-time buyers and they paid an average of €145,368 for the homes they bought.
The call for the government to extend and expand the Help to Buy Scheme to help struggling first and second time buyers has come from mortgages website MyMortgages.ie
They pointed out that last year there were 151 first buyers who bought homes in Sligo for an average price of €149,500 who benefited from the scheme but there were 338 purchases who didn’t.
Joey Sheahan, Head of Credit at MyMortgages .ie explained the challenges they see families facing on a daily basis. “There were 338 property purchases last year in Sligo by people who had previously bought a property, but who wanted or needed a new home. The average cost was €147, 559. This means these homeowners would have had to get average deposit of €29, 511 together before they could buy. “ He said it’s this 20% deposit that is a major stumbling block for second time buyers. “We believe that if the HTB scheme was to be expanded to include those who may have bought a home in the past but now needed to purchase a different primary residence for whatever reason , then many more would be able to do so,” he said.
Source: Sligo Weekender
MyMortgages Limited trading as MyMortgages.ie is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
